Intro To The Beta
This page is intended to help people in the Starhawk private beta learn how to play FUCK BSK, WAR!, NmE, WYLD, The main way that beta codes are given out is in "waves" of email invites to selected players (often former Warhawk players). To maybe get one of these, register at http://starhawkthegame.com and make sure your PSN ID is opted-in to receive marketing email (go to XMB, Account Management, Account Information, Notification Preferences). Other ways to get a code: *LightBox randomly posts codes on the Starhawk Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/StarhawkTheGame), but you need to be paying attention. *Some sites sometimes run contests, and many of these contests get announced on the Starhawk Facebook page. The main site giving out the most beta codes has been http://StarhawkRadio.com. Other sites are also supposed to have giveaways (read PS blog entry about the beta http://blog.us.playstation.com/tag/starhawk/). If you really want a code, follow every site on the web, Twitter (if they have it), etc. What's In The Beta Right now just 2 maps, and 1 Game Mode (CTF). Not all the vehicles and weapons are there, and there are many features missing (party system, etc). Various features will get added into the beta over time. Read The Forums LightBox has some summary posts in there that tell you how to stay on top of news about the beta (see Dylan's "Welcome"), report bugs, etc. These forums are only accessible to people who are in the beta. Reporting Bugs and Giving Feedback If you want to report a bug (please do!), LightBox would like you to post in the "Bugs" sub-space of the beta forums. They have instructions as to how to report a bug here: http://community.us.playstation.com/thread/3907729?tstart=0 You can also go into the beta forums to give feedback. These forums are only accessible to people who are in the beta. The Game Controls LightBox has posted some info about controls and objects in the beta. There's 1 thread each in the the forum sub-spaces for Weapons, Vehicles, and Build & Battle. Those posts do not cover every control in the game though. They do contain extra information beyond what is written below here, so those posts are good reading. These forums are only accessible to people in the beta. *LightBox's Weapons post: http://community.us.playstation.com/thread/3908661 *LightBox's Vehicles post: http://community.us.playstation.com/thread/3908663 *LightBox's Build & Battle post: http://community.us.playstation.com/thread/3907863 Troop *triangle - bring up Build & Battle menu *X – jump/confirm structure *square – re-load/use vehicle *O - crouch *L1 – look down sights (sniper rifle zoom/RPG lock onto vehicle) *R1 – fire *L2 grenade *R2 – sprint *R3 - knife *d-pad – select weapon Razorback *square -- exit vehicle *triangle -- Build & Battle menu *L2 – reverse *R2 – forward *hold X and analog stick or d-pad – select seat *R1 – fire (as passenger or gunner) *L1 – zoom as gunner *L2 + R2 – skid Hawk *O – transform to flight mode *X – jump (as mech) *square – leave hawk *triangle – Build & Battle menu *R1 – machine guns *L1 – fire missiles/lock (depends on controls Settings) *L2 – brake *R2 – boost *L2 + R2 - powerslide (sharp turn) *R3 - chaff *d pad - select weapon *X + L stick – scrub missiles (unless you change your controls Settings) Other Controls On Re-spawn Map The right thumbstick lets you zoom in and out on the map Work-arounds For Known Bugs Mic Stops Working If you're playing a round and the host quits on you, you need to completely shutdown Starhawk, then re-launch it, otherwise your mic may stop working. Learn About The Weapons/Vehicles/Structures This wiki contains info about the various in-game objects, what they're useful for, how to use them, etc. You should read about the game's troop weapons, vehicles, and structures. (Note: No one's made a category or entries for air weapons yet). You also want to be familiar with one of the game's major mechanics, Build & Battle. To see a list of every page in this wiki, click General Tips For Learning The Starhawk Beta Crash Reports If the game ever crashes/freezes your PS3, when you start back up, your PS3 may give you the option to send in a crash report. LightBox would really like it if you do that! How To Learn The Game (Someone should write about creating your own server...but that people may enter and send you out of pre-game. Mention the pros/cons of naming your server "newbie". Some vets may avoid it, or come in to train you, while others may be attracted to come bash.) What Team You Are If you played Warhawk, you were used to the fact that randomly you'd be placed on either red team or blue team. In Starhawk, you are randomly on the Rifter or Outcast team, but your team ALWAYS appears "green" to you, and the enemy team ALWAYS appears "red" to you. Your spawn areas are green-colored, your team tags are green, on the map your buildings are green, etc. How To Spawn Whenever you spawn on Starhawk, you fly in through the sky in a Drop Pod. This is a lot like a missile, in the sense that you can kill someone by landing on them. It's very useful for controlling where you're going, as you may want to land on a Supply Bunker to get some weapons and supplies straight away. Or you may want to land straight on a Hawk Pad to get straight into some dogfighting. One decision you will have to make when choosing where to land is whether to try to squash the enemy or not. If you miss them but spawn near them, you will be a target, and they most likely have better weapons than you. You may want to spawn mid-range from them, so you can use your Rifle to gun them down. (Someone should write about sitting in your protected pod, extra spawn points due to Pod Beacons, etc. ) What's On Your Screen Read about Starhawk's various menus and displays What's In Home Base Read about the Rift Collector The Basics Of Building Structures Building is one of the most innovative features of Starhawk. You access the build menu using Triangle. But there are rules and restrictions as to how you can build things on Starhawk. To build things, you need Rift Energy. This is like the currency of the game. Different buildings cost different amounts of Rift. For instance, a Wall costs 1 bar of rift, a Garage costs 2 bars of rift, etc. (the rift gauge is in the blue bar in the top right of screen when you press triangle). Buildings are destructible (by the enemy), and repairable, if you have the Repair Tool. The Repair Tool can also be used to destroy enemy buildings. Sometimes you may see a building that is in the way, no longer relevant to the changed state of the battlefield, or is badly placed. You can Reclaim some of these buildings (but not al!). This is especially helpful with walls and gates, these may be placed in bad positions by accident/bad tactics. To reclaim something, stand in front of its glowing yellow control pad (if it has one), and hold down Square until the building is reclaimed. Right now on the 2 maps in the beta, your entire team is only allowed 32 structures total. Once 32 have been built, no one can build anything else, until an existing building is either destroyed (by the enemy), or reclaimed (by your team). You can learn some things about Walls and building them by reading the Walls article. (Someone should write about the precise steps to build Walls, link them, etc.) How To Get Rift So You Can Build Structures There are three main sources of rift. The Rift Collector, Pod Beacons, and Rift Barrels. These all provide a replenishable source of rift. The Rift Collector and the Pod Beacon will give you a slow supply when you are in a certain radius around them, whereas Rift Barrels give you rift when you shoot them. They respawn after 20 or so seconds. As well as this, you can get rift from Capturing the flag, returning the flag, killing enemies, and destroying enemy buildings. It is worth mentioning that in Pre-Game, Pod Beacons and Rift Collectors do not supply you with rift, and you have to use the other methods to obtain it. How To Get Other Weapons Rifle ammo, the repair tool and proximity mines are scattered all over the map. To obtain a rocket launcher or a shotgun, enter or build a Supply Bunker. This requires four rift bars to build. You can also get these weapons from enemy supply bunkers, but it will not let you enter via the door. You will have to climb the ladder and enter through the hole in the roof. To obtain a sniper rifle, climb or build a Sniper Tower. Building a Sniper Tower requires three rift bars. Location Of The Mines And Repair Tool These written descriptions are probably the best way of finding these items, but if you want to see a map diagram, you should also check out the section on the beta maps. In Acid Sea *Mines: Go to the center of the map. To your left and right are large buildings/platforms. One of these has a ladder facing you (it will vary which one depending upon which side of the map you came from). Go up the ladder, you'll find the mines there. *Repair tool: Take the right-hand road leading out of youru Home base. Just down the road on the right you will see the repair tool. In Space *Mines: There's only 1 on the map, they are not symmetrically placed. If you're lucky, they're close to your Home. If you're unlucky, they're close to the enemy Home. Head left out of your Home, taking the up-ramp. Go up the next up-ramp as well so you're at the "top" level. If you're lucky, the mines are right there on your left. If you're unlucky, they're in the corresponding location on the enemy side. *Repair tool: Head left out of your Home, taking the down-ramp. Do not go up the next up-ramp. Look just past it, to the left of that up-ramp, you will see the repair tool. Basics Of Combat (Someone should write here. Talk about the Kinetic Rifle, hip fire (but not while R2 sprinting), over-the-shoulder L1 snap-on targeting, health regeneration, etc.) How To Get A Vehicle Unless a teammate or enemy abandons a vehicle somewhere, all vehicles in Starhawk are obtained by buiding the relevant Build & Battle structure for that vehicle. For a hawk you need to build a hawk pad (6 rift), for a Jet Pack you need to build a jetpack dispenser (4 rift), and for a Razorback you need to build a garage (2 rift). When you first build a Razorback garage or hawk pad, it comes with a vehicle in it ready for the taking. Sometimes you have to move quick or teammates may steal that first vehicle. Once one of your teammates has built a structure you can use the structure to build new vehicles for a discounted rate. You will see the empty garage or pad with the ghost outline of a Razorback or hawk in it (due a bug, sometimes you don't see the ghost). Enemy garages and pads, however, always lack the ghost, because you are not allowed to order from enemy structures. Just approach the control panel on the structure and tap Square. A hawk from existing hawk pad (3 rift), a jetpack from an existing jetpack dispenser (2 rift), or a Razorback from an existing garage (1 rift). There will be a delay time for spawning a new vehicle after a vehicle has been spawned. For a hawk it is 45 seconds, a jetpack 15 seconds (I think), and a Razorback is 10 seconds. The delay time will come up on screen when you approach the control panel of a structure. You may want to take care not to build multiple buildings of the same type "too close" to one another, as this just uses up your team's structure limit of 32 structures. Instead you can easily walk to nearby existing garages/pads and order a vehicle. Although since the hawk pad delay is so long, more than 1 hawk pad can be useful if multiple pilots want to get up in the air quickly. You can't order vehicles from the enemy team's structures, but you can use the enemy team's abandoned vehicles. A Tip For Hawk Take-off To avoid damaging yourself upon take-off, a good way to take-off from being a Mech is...look upwards into empty airspace, hit X to jump, while you're in mid-leap, hit O to transform. You should have no problem taking-off vertically (or nearly so). How To Make A New Spawn Point To create a new spawn point, you need to build a Pod Beacon using the Build&Battle menu. This requires four bars of rift. If you are lacking rift, then travel to an area with rift barrels via jetpack, Razorback etc. Shoot the rift barrel continually until you have enough rift to build the Pod Beacon. If you're building near Rift Barrels, keep the Pod Beacon close enough that you get its Rift while you're harvesting/defending the barrels. Ideas For What You Should Do Someone write some ideas here for what new players could do next (defend, make bases, attack, etc). Fill these sub-sections in, add more sections? Build/Defend At the beginning of the game you can either rush forward to attack or prepare your home base for attack. If you are defending, you have a few options. Some prefer a clear view of their own flag and a clear killing field. Others prefer to put walls around the flag. At the very least to stop vehicles from driving right up to the flag. You can also try to use walls to make it harder for troops to get to the flag. When you are building them, you have the option to link two walls together. If you do this, then the enemy cannot filter in through the gaps. Also, ensure that you convert one wall into a gate by tapping square on the yellow button attached to the wall. This allows your team mates and you to easily move in and out of the walled-off area. Auto-turrets can be placed on top of walls. This provides defence for your base and make the turrets harder to disable. Do not build an uneccesary amount of walls, as there is a build limit of 32 buildings for each team. You need some ability to build items when attacking the enemy Home. Create Forward Bases Foward bases are a useful tool in Starhawk. Especially in Capture the Flag. If your foward base contains a Pod Beacon, you and your team can spawn close to the enemy's base and get straight into attacking. Forward bases are vunerable though. This is because the enemy has the advantage as their main base is nearby. They can easily destroy your pod beacon, so you can no longer spawn there, but they can always spawn "close" at their Home base. The best way to combat this is to make sure that your forward base is stocked-up well. This means putting bunkers down so that anyone who spawns there is well equipped. Just remember the enemy can very easily enter the bunker from the top and surprise you with an attack. And be as well-equipped as you are if you don't defend the Bunkers from them. You may want a garage so that you have easy access (if you're playing Capture the Flag) to a Razorback. Attack Starhawk gives you a lot of choice in relation to attacking the enemy's base. Here are some of the options: *''' Crazy Razorback do-or-die rush! A common method of attacking. Though it is often done badly, if done correctly this can get you an easy flag. The tactic with this is to be as quick as possible, and don't stop to kill enemies that are out of your way. If you do this, you will attract more attention and most likely get killed. Make sure you protect your Razorback . Your Razorback is your ticket out of the enemy base, and if it's destroyed you are pretty much dead. '''* The "slowly but surely" method: Not all of us like to run into the enemy base like a maniac (surprisingly), so another approach is to launch a continuing assault on the enemy. This means building a foward base from which you can blow up enemy buildings and get some troops into their base. This gives you close access to the flag or the enemy stronghold. Some may see it as spawn trapping, some may see it as a good tactic move. It's your opinion. Be warned though, you need to keep some men at your own Home base, as an enemy may sneak round the side of the map and get your flag/spawn trap you. It also takes a lot of time to gather enough rift and build a foward base and effectively defend the Pod Beacon. *''' Pwn them like a ninja! LONE WOLF! Though teamwork is vital for a lot of tactics, some stuff you can do on your own. One example of this is the classic "LONE WOLF". This is where you sneak into the enemy's base (utilising cover) and sabotage the goat's milk out of them. Not many do it well. In starhawk, this tactic often is often done best using a Repair Tool - which can destroy enemy buildings within seconds. You will face a lot of enemies, so it is important to use cover to your advantage. Enemy buildings and Bunkers are good for this. Go in through the top and restock on ammo. They will likely see you when they drop pod in, so it is useful to be good at using the knife or the shotgun so you can get them as soon as they land. One common mistake is to put walls and turrets down in the enemy base. This DOES NOT work, and simply wastes your rift and building slots. They are easy to destroy and can often help the enemy (If it's a bunker or a wall). '''* Long range sabotage...LIKE A BOSS. If you're familiar with Starhawk, you will have seen the Sniper rifle. This is a deadly weapon in the right hands, and if these hands are your hands (lol), then this tactic is for you. Make some kind of supply station at your base, which contains a Bunker , A Sniper Tower and A Jetpack Dispenser (Maybe some Turrets to stop them from being destroyed). This will act as your 'base of operations' for the match. Once you are fully kitted out, Jetpack up to a vantage point in the map. For example, on Acid Sea , the Pipes overlooking the enemy base and the centre of the map. Destroy all the enemy buildings you can see, using the Rocket Launcher and shoot as many enemies as you can see with the Sniper Rifle . Once you've run out of ammo, return to your little "base of operations" and restock. Find a different spot (They'll know where you were the first time and prepare for you) and repeat. You will be vunerable when sniping and sabotaging, so make sure you have a suitable escape route or fortification to hide in. It's better if as few people on the team are using this tactic as possible, as it leaves your base defenceless and if it's CTF , nobody is going for the flag. Tell your team to use the other tactics, or do them yourself. Tactics How To Take-out An Automatic Machine Gun Turret Auto Turrets can be a nuisance when you're trying to assault an enemy's base. Fortunately, there are mutliple ways to destroy them... Auto Turrets can be destroyed with every weapon in the game, though some do more damage than others. It is advisable that you either use a Rocket launcher or a Sniper Rifle . Two shots from a rocket launcher will destroy the turret, and if you have a sniper rifle you can shoot the 'eye' of the turret to kill it in one go. Although you can shoot the 'eye' with all weapons, the sniper rifle is the most accurate and therefore the best choice. If shooting the turret fails, or you're too close to shoot it without it killing you first, you can 'dismantle' the turret. This is simply done by running up to it and using the melee button (R3). You have to approach turrets carefully, since the turret is more accurate up close and it may kill you before you get to it. Some you can sneak near, some you can rush while moving left & right, every situation is different. Strategies (Someone should write about building super Home bases and "turtling-up"...why or why not? Building forward spawn points. Areas of the map you want to control. etc.) Tips For Specific Maps Acid Sea Someone write here! Also, FullFrontalGaming blog has published a ground map/guide here: http://fullfrontalgaming.blogspot.com/2011/11/starhawk-corner-no-swimming.html Air map: http://fullfrontalgaming.blogspot.com/2011/11/starhawk-corner-being-seahawk.html Space Someone write here! Also, FullFrontalGaming blog has published a ground map/guide here: http://fullfrontalgaming.blogspot.com/2011/11/starhawk-corner-spacing-out.html Air map: http://fullfrontalgaming.blogspot.com/2011/11/starhawk-corner-hawks-in-space.html Tips For Specific Game Modes Capture The Flag *''' Rush the enemy! As soon as the game starts, it is advisable to build a garage straight away and head to the enemy's flag in a Razorback . This is a good method since you can get to the enemy base before they have a chance to build any fortifications or turrets. It may well end up badly, since you are usually outnumbered badly, and any enemies you kill can spawn back right where they died in a few seconds. But if you are quick and smart enough, you should be able to get an easy flag capture right at the start of the game. '''* Following on from this: Prepare for an enemy rush! At the start of almost every game, the enemy will try and rush you using the above tactic. The best way to prepare for this is to leave some team-mates behind at the base, and preferably on high ground (since Razorbacks can easily run you over). You may also want to build a bunker as quickly as possible, because you will get a Rocket Launcher which can easily destoy enemy Razorbacks. If any enemy is out of their Razorback , concentrate fire on the razorback rather than the enemy. If they have no means of transportation, they're sitting ducks for people at your base. *''' Intelligent wall placement! Whatever you do, don't build walls in a ridiculous labryinth that not only confuses the enemy, but you and your team! The best way to build walls is to surround the flag in as little room as possible. On the space map, you can effectively seal off the flag with as little as two walls (although there is always a way to get to it). Walls are really more about blocking/slowing vehicles than they are about stopping troops. '''* Fortify your base like some kind of high security prison! As the game goes on, your enemy will most likely start building hawks and fly over to your base, transform into a mech and beat the living goat's milk out of you. However, you can stop this by building decent fortifications. This means always having a Bunker in your home base so that anyone spawning there can get some decent weapons. It also means having some kind of wall system which will bide you time to kill the enemies who are after the flag. Energy Shields are a big bonus too, although they are expensive and you may want to consider spending your rift on something else. Such as a Beam Turret . These are very good against airbourne enemies as they auto lock onto them. They are also good for destroying enemy foward bases that are visible, since you can get in them and beam fire onto their bunkers, or whatever buildings they have. * The most important tactic of all: Teamwork! It really helps to have an effective method for teamwork. This means using a microphone, or at least some kind of communication. This is good, as it means that you can ask teammates what buildings they've built, and whether you need to build another one etc. It also helps to know who has the flag, or who's defending it. You may want to move around in groups also, this is relevant to the Rush tactic, since you can get a Razorback full of people right at the start of the game and storm the enemy base as a team. One person might want to be the driver, one person might want to use the turret and one person might want to jump out and get the flag. Team defence is also important, as you may want to cover different sides of your base, or have diferent buildings assigned to each person. Frequently Asked Questions How Do I See Player Scores In A Game? Press the start button and select Scores. Scroll down until you see your name. You will be told the number of kills you have made, the number of deaths you have had and your current score. How Large A Server Can I Host? The beta currently only allows 16-person servers. It is expected it will allow 32 before the beta ends. Even when you create your own server, it's actually hosted by Sony, so all players should be able to host 32 people. More Tips Elsewhere *FullFrontalGaming has been publishing some good Starhawk beta tips: http://fullfrontalgaming.blogspot.com/search/label/Starhawk *TheGremlinKlown has been posting good videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGremlinKlown?feature=mhee Category:Browse Category:Content Category:Game Mechanics Category:Misc Category:Multiplayer